


The Good Doctor - Tact and Persuasion

by Soquilii9



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen, Patient interaction, Persuasion - Freeform, Tact, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 08:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12527608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soquilii9/pseuds/Soquilii9
Summary: Shaun makes progress in patient interaction.





	The Good Doctor - Tact and Persuasion

 

_Melendez:  You have any idea how many patients he's scared the crap out of today?  How many wasted tests he ordered?_

_Glassman:  So teach him._

_Melendez:  I'm doing that.  I'm teaching you both that he doesn't belong._

~~~  

Dr. Melendez didn’t even begin the day with a greeting.  Shaun thought it strange that most people saw fit to discard the basic social rules he was trying so hard to learn.

‘Ready for rounds, Murphy?’

‘Yes, Dr. Melendez.’  Shaun, on time and garbed in his lab jacket, started off down the hall.

‘Wait.  Come back here.’

Shaun complied.  ‘Is there something wrong,’ he queried in a flat tone.

Melendez simply stared at him.

In an effort to gauge what might be on his superior’s mind, Shaun hazarded a guess.  ‘You are waiting for Claire and Jared.  They are late.’

‘No, they won’t be joining us.  This morning, it’s just you and me.  As I instruct you, so I myself was instructed.  To teach you.’

‘Teach me what.’

‘To relate to patients.  We’re going to begin by you not saying one word.  You observe; you listen as I speak to each patient.  I will introduce you and cite the specifics of the case but you are to remain silent.  Is that clear?’

Shaun’s eyes focused alternatively from a point just above his instructor’s head to some mysterious destination to his right.

‘Shaun, do me the courtesy of looking at me when I speak to you.’

Seemingly with great effort, Shaun slowly locked eyes with Melendez, who gestured with two fingers toward his own eyes.  ‘That’s better.  I know the autism makes some things difficult for you but this is something you can learn, is it not?’

~~~

_Shaun’s father had him by the shoulders, shaking him.  His mother, as always, tried to intervene._

_‘This kid isn’t normal, Marcie - he won’t look at me!!’_

_‘He can’t help it, Ethan.  It’s just the way he is.’_

_‘He’s gonna learn.  He’s gonna change the way he is if I have to beat it out of him!’_

_‘No!’ Marcie screamed._

_Twelve-year-old Shaun crouched on the floor, grateful for the thick jacket that softened the blows, somewhat, from the belt in his father’s hand._

~~~

Shaun, momentarily unnerved by an old memory, ruffled his own hair.  Such a simple gesture took him back to happier days with his brother Steve, who would affectionately do the same thing.  ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Good.  Now, remember.  Not a word.’  Melendez led Shaun down the hall.

The morning progressed smoothly despite Shaun’s growing irritation at Melendez, who was basically treating him like a first-year intern.  The last patient to be seen was forty-year-old man with arteriosclerosis.  Complicating this was the fact that he had diabetes.  Gangrene had been evident for the last twenty-four hours in the toes of his right foot, elevated in a sling over the bed.

Melendez commented on the case in the hall before going into the room.  ‘Charlie Watkins was an athlete.  He was still active until recently, when he developed diabetes.  This leg is going to have to come off, and we need to prepare him for that.  You can’t rush a patient in such a situation.  He has to be mentally prepared.’

‘I’m aware of that.  Might I be allowed to speak to him.’

‘I thought we agreed, Murphy…’

Shaun's voice rose slightly.  ‘I’ve complied in every way.  I’ve done what you asked me.  I won’t learn without the opportunity to put what I’ve learned into practice.’

The tone of Shaun’s voice caught Melendez by surprise.  Although his sentences were oddly mechanical as was nearly everything he said, he could detect a note of confidence therein.  He decided to give it a try.

‘All right.  Let’s see how empathetic you can be, telling an active man he’ll have to use a prosthetic the rest of his life.’

‘All I have to do is imagine how it would be for me.’

Sean left Melendez standing in the hall and entered the room with the chart.

‘Hello, I’m Dr. Shaun Murphy.  How are you today, Mr. Watkins.’

‘Where’s Dr. Melendez?  He was in here yesterday to tell me my foot wasn’t looking so good.  Doesn’t feel so good either; hurts like a son of a bitch.’

‘Dr. Melendez will be in directly.’  Shaun began his examination of the leg.  The toes were completely black; the leg was discolored past the knee, mottled red and dusky purple.  It was no effort for Shaun to keep his expression neutral; what would be difficult would be telling this man they were going to have to take his leg.

‘So what’s the story with my foot?’

‘Dr. Melendez told you yesterday he was concerned about your temperature.’

‘Yes.’

‘And today your leg is showing no sign of improvement.  In fact, your condition has become very serious.  There is no pulse below the groin.  Your leg is going to make you very sick…unless…’

‘Doc, don’t talk about taking my leg off.  That’s what they’ve been hinting at since I got here.  Look, I still play golf; I like to hike!  Touch football with the boys.  How can I do that if you take my leg?’

‘You are familiar with prosthetics?’

‘You mean wooden legs?’

‘No – prosthetic limbs made so well you can even run in them.  Vacuum sockets so you don’t need straps, springs that mimic musculature.  A transfemoral, which is what you will need, is a lower and upper leg including a prosthetic knee.  It will take some work once you are healed but there are mountain climbers and distance runners with these type of prosthetics and they are better than they were before.  It doesn’t slow them down.  It won’t slow you down.  You’ll be better, stronger, faster.’

Charlie Watkins chuckled in spite of himself.  ‘Sounds like I’ll be the Six Million Dollar Man.  Ever see that show?’

‘Yes, my brother and I watched it in syndication.’

‘And if I don’t agree to the surgery?’

‘You will become very sick.  You should think about it but we would advise you not to wait too long.’

Charlie Watkins sighed in resignation.  ‘All right, Doc.  Damn thing hurts so much now I’d just as soon have it off.  If what you say is true about the prosthetics I guess I’ll be all right.  Do I gotta sign something?’

‘Yes, you will be all right.  I’ll get your paperwork.’

Dr. Melendez was waiting for Shaun in the hallway.  He looked upon his student with grudging admiration and actually clapped him on the back – a gesture Shaun usually avoided, but this time he accepted it, followed as it was by the first words of encouragement he had ever heard from Dr. Melendez.

‘Good work.’

As was his wont, Dr. Shaun Murphy's face dimpled in a shy grin as he raised his fisted hand in glee.

 

THE END


End file.
